Riggi

Hi all,

has anyone removed the restrictor caps in their TA200 exhaust?

How did you do it?

Do you have any hints/tips/photos?

What was the the perfromance result like?

thanks,

Rich

Thanks guys. I'll check out the place near the bus stop.

Already checked with Marty and no helmets yet at their shop.

Hi all,

does anyone know of a shop with a good range of full face helmets?

I've looked at a few motorcycle shops and also the motorcycle accessory type shops (that sell things to hot your Honda Wave up) around Mae Chan but they all mainly have open face helmets with maybe 4 or 5 full face helmets (Index and Space Crown) in stock.

I don't mind the Index ones, but I would like to check out a few more, and also see a bigger range of the Index as I want to get a (mostly) white helmet and haveonly seen one of these so far - most being black, blue or red.

Anywhere near/around Chiang Rai or Mae Sai is preferable for me.

Thanks,

Rich

Thanks guys.

I'll look for Lavendel (can you get it at Tesco or Big C??) and also check out Central Plaza when it opens in a couple of weeks as.

Hi all,

does anyone know where I could buy some lavender essential oil around Chiang Rai or Mae Sai?

You can usually get it in chemists and new age type shops in western countries.

I have tried several chemists here but can't find any.

Not aware of any new age or aroma therapy type shops in Chiang Rai.

thanks,

Rich

There is a fishing shop in Mae Chan on the main street near where the green song thiaws wait.

Maybe 20m from the round about at the police station.

I don't know much about fishing but they havea lot of fancy looking rods, reels, nets and lures etc.

I got these saddlebags at Chiang Rai Saddlebags.

They had a lot to choose from and the service was friendly and very good.

They are vinyl, Marty at the shop said leather doesnot fare well in the Thai climate unless you look after it diligently.

Mine have a hard plastic lining so they keep their shape and they clean easily with a wipe with a damp sponge.

This style didn't require meto move my rear indicators, plus it had the least bling out of all of the bags.

Very happy with them. They are big enough to hold an 8 pack of toilet paper (with a little bit of squishing)

If you find anywhere that does custom/aftermarket exhausts in CR please let me know. I less restrictive exhaust on my Phantom would be good.

I'd be interested in what you think of the Lifan 250.

Often wish my Phantom had an extra 50cc...

Rich

If you crossed into Myanmar at Mai Sai you probably need to leave the country to get another visa.

You effectivelycancelled your non immigrant O visa and replaced it with a transit (or bridging) visa.

I had a nonimmO visa that expired in Dec. I was in the process of trying to get it extended and since I was in Mae Sai visiting the immigration office I thought I'd go and see Tachilek in Myanmar.

The lady at the Thai checkpoint said that since my visa had only 7 days left, if I crossed the boarder I'd get 15 more days. She neglected to tell me that it would completely cancel my nonimm O and prevent me from getting an extension.

When Iwent back to the immigration office a few days later they said that crossing into Myanmar cancelled my non imm O visa and they couldn't extend it now!

I ended up having to go to Penang for another non-imm O.

Wasn't too bad as I was going down south for new year anyway, but a hassle non the less.

Rich

I did this trip in February last year.

When I shopped around the travel agents it was about 1800baht for a minivan to pick you up in the morning, take you to Chiang Khong, a bout to take you across the river and then the ticket for the 2 day boat ride to LPB.

Doing it myself saved about 600 baht I think.

Irrespective of the money, if you have the time I woud recommend doing it yourself and catching the bus to Chiang Khong the day before. It's easy to find the bus to Chiang Khong at the bus station in town. It's well sign posed.

You don't have to get up early and you won't be stuck with all the other tourists that got a minivan in the morning trying to go through 2 immigration checkpoints and board the boat at the same time.

Take a boat across the river (I shared the cost with 2 other people I met on the bus).

Go through Loas immigration - try not to get there at kunch time or you may need to wait an hour for them to come back from lunch like I did.Although it wasn't too bad as there is a bar/restuarant in the no-mans land zone so we just sipped on beer Laos and watched the Mekong river for an hour.

Stay 1 night in Huay Xai. Not a lot to do, but a nice place to chill and relax before your 2 day boat ride

Get up early and buy your boat ticket from the office at the boat ramp.

Note that the boats to LPB leave from a different ramp to the one you arrived atfromThailand. The LPB boat ramp is further north. Can walk it, but with a backpack take a tuk tuk,.

There are some guesthouses close tothe LPB boat ramp so probably better to stay there soit's not a long walk in the morning.

Board the boat and find a seat - I'd recommend one up the front as the engine noise at the back is LOUD.

Wait about an hour for all of the tourists that came from CR that morning to arrive and scramble for a seat. Quite a few people ended up sitting on the floor or their backpacks.

Sitting on the boat and watching the groups of tourists arrive and being herded onto the boat made us glad we stayed overnight at Huay Xai instead of beingrushed through in the morning.

Enjoy your trip to LPB.

hope that helps,

Rich

Hi all,

just an update..

I tried to get Pirellis from Charlie, but she was out of stock. She gave me another number to try, but no luck.

I ended up getting Metzelers from tyrethailand.com

I called them from the Honda dealer in Mae Chan last Saturday and got them delivered there. 4400 baht including delivery.

I went there today and got them fitted which cost 200 baht.

I ordered Metzeler Lasertec 110/80 17 front and 130/90 15 rear.

They sent me the Lasertec rear and a Metzeler ME Speed front instead (the same size. The tread pattern on the ME speed looks a little more "modern" and like a sports bike tyre than the Lasertec front, but not sure if it will be a better wet weather tyre - it doesn't look like would disperse as much water...

Google doesn't bring any pages in English, but it looks like they may be a newer model (released in 2007 from this translated page ) and sports tyre with good wet weather handling which makes me feel better. (although I can't imagine any tyre manufacturer actually saying any of their road tyres were not good in the wet...)

Because the Honda shop is not used to dealing with larger tyres they had to take the wheels and tyres to the Bridgestone car tyre place up the road to get them fitted.

When they brought them back, the front was on the wrong way, although the mechanics looked confused because the tread pattern on the oldIRC tyres and every other tyre we looked at in the shop forms a "V" pointing down when you look at the tyre from the front.

But the Metzeler ME Speed has the V pointing up when the tyre is installed with the rotation arrow going the correct direction.

I'll trust that the rotatioin arrow on the tyre is correct and seehow it goes in the wet....

Set the tyres at 32 PSI front and back which is the same as what I was running the IRCs.

After riding 60km home from Mae Chan to Natoe with a good mixof straights and winding mountain roads with fast and slow Ss I am very happy with the tyres.

They definitely feel more stable or definite when cornering. They inspire a lot more confidence then the IRCs which never felt too good to me (I experimented with various tyre pressures but never felt all that confident in the tyres).

They also change direction quicker too which is good for the twisties.

Not sure how much the better handling is just due to the fact that their new tyes and how much is due to differences in tyre design/compound (the old IRCs still had decent tread on them, but had quite a bit of dry cracking in the tread which is why I replaced them).

Hopefully I'll be just as happy with them when I have to ride in the rain...

Thanks for the offer of your shop for deliver Kandahar, but it was easier to do it through the Honda dealer as they are closer.

I will drop in and check out the new shop next time I'm in CR though (is it completed?) I might want to pick up some more stuff for my bike

Cheers,

Rich

Thanks guys.

If I have to order from a 3rd party it might be easier to do that from the Honda dealer so they can give them their address to deliver to.

Not sure how I'd go trying to carry 2 tyres on the bike

billd766 - how did you find the IRC wild fires compared to the stock IRC tyres? I've read they are softer and have a lot better grip than the stock IRCs.

Cheers,

Rich

Hi all,

does anyone know somewhere I can get some tyres for my Phantom other than the stock IRC ones from Honda? eg.Metzeler, Pirelli, Bridgestone. Something a bit softer than the stock IRC tyres.

I tried a few places around Mae Chan today but they all only handle scooters and suggested I go to Chiang Rai.

Rather than just ride around town stopping and asking at places I'm hoping someone knows of a place that either stocks them or will at least order them for me.

Since it trakes me 2 hours to get to town I'd rather have a plan before getting there

Thanks,

Rich

Thanks guys. Picked up a can of that H2Mos (local WD40) and that did the trick.

But left an oily film so another wash with normal car wash detergent cleaned that up.

Cheers,

Rich

Hi all, does anyone know where I can get some degreaser around Chiang Rai or Mae Chan? Just the cheap stuff in an aerosol can that you can normally get from kmart and $2 shops in Australia. I need to clean the chain grease from my rear wheel and normal car wash detergent isn't cutting it. I've tried BigC and Tesco as well as a few bike places that sell oil, paint etc. but no joy. I tried to explain to one place what I wanted (to clean up grease) and they pulled out a packet of powdered washing detergent... thanks, Rich

Thanks billd766.

I took it to the Greenwing shop in Mae Chan today.

Full service, including new spark plug, engine oil and bulb was only 245 baht!

He even checked and adjusted the valves.

He also got me to sit on the bike and roll forwad and back while he adjusted the chain, which is the first time I had a mechanic do that.

Incredibly good and friendly service there.

Hi all,

last night was the first time I've ridden my Phantom at night and noticed there was no illumination of speedo.

Is this normal? Or has my bulb gone?

Indicator, high beam and neutral lights leds work.

Thanks,.

Rich

Thanks guys.

Found Chiang Rai Saddle Bags today with the help of the google map (thank goodness for internet on my phone as I got lost and had tolook the map up again on the road!)

Watcharaporn (sp?) and Marty were really nice and helpful with quite a few bags to choose from.

Great service.

Will go back in a month or so and maybe buy some more stuff for my bike

Rich

Hi all,

does anyone know of anywhere in or around Chiang Rai that sells saddle bags and racks and accessories for a Phantom?

I've tried searching here and google but can't seem to find anything.

Seems to be an expired ad for a place called "Chiang Rai Saddle Bags" here but google brings up nothingon them...

Cheers,

Rich

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand Honda Phantom from a bike shop in Chiang Rai.

Reading through various posts here and alsewhere, it seems that there are potential problems with transferring ownership of the "greenbook"??

Or will this not be a problem if buying from a dealer?

I bought a Wave 125 from a bike shop in Chiang Rai about 4 months ago and just paid them the money and rode away and did nothing else. Wasn't aware of any greenbook or need to transfer ownership at the LTD...(it's only through researching the Phantom I've become aware of thgis requirement)

Will the dealer do everything required for me to legally own the bike?

Or do I need to get the greenbook updated by the LTD?

If it has no greenbook does that mean I don't legally own the bike? (in which case,why would I hand over 60,000 Baht for a bike that is not legally mine???)

Just a little confused (but then this is Thailand... ) as in Australia, if you buy a used bike/car from a dealer then you can pretty confident all paperwork is sorted.

Thanks,

Rich